History Characters / ANightmareOnElmStreet

* SexySpectacles: A beautiful buxom woman wearing specs.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/alice_johnson_a_nightmare_on_elm_street_5067.jpg]]

-->''"Come on, you fucking coward!"''

* DeathBySex: Freddy invades her dream immediately after she has sex with Rod.

* ArchEnemy: The first heroine who’s faced Freddy multiple times and one Freddy absolutely ''despises''.

* ScreamsLikeALittleGirl: Not only does he scream far more than any of the female leads in the series, he even manages to do it in an even higher pitch.

* AssholeVictim: It is heavily implied that he planned to do bad things to Jesse before dying.

* LonelyRichKid: Kristen's mom has a BigFancyHouse and a luxurious wardrobe and is pretty dismissive of Kristen and her problems in ''Dream Warriors''. Kristen also takes a bit of time to bond with the other kids, although by ''Dream Master'' she has a close circle of friends.

* {{Jerkass}}: Her very little patience for Kristen, Nancy, her own housekeeper, just about everyone except her boyfriends.

* BringHelpBack: When he sees Phillip apparently sleepwalk gin to his death, he doesn't have the voice to yell out, but does race around banging on the walls to alert people.

->'''Played by:''' Breckin Meyer

-->'''Freddy''' in a low ''hate'' filled growl: You...

* CoolBigBro: To Alice.

[[folder:Nancy Holbrook]]
!! Nancy Holbrook

->'''Played by:''' Creator/RooneyMara

* AdaptationNameChange: Her surname in the original is Thompson rather than Holbrook.

* PinkMeansFeminine: Nancy starts off the franchise as a GirlNextDoor type of character and wears pink sweaters and jackets in several scenes, especially before [[TookALevelInBadass taking a level in badass.]] She's also shown to have pink underwear during a brief ToplessFromTheBack scene.

* StuffedInTheFridge: Her death is used to motive Mark into believing Alice's claims about Freddy targeting them. Freddy even tortures Greta's soul in front of Mark to get a reaction out of him.

* DecoyProtagonist: The first movie begins from her point of view, and it isn't until she is killed that it becomes clear that her friend Nancy is the actual protagonist.

* EldritchAbomination: The closes thing that one could recognize as a form is a worm-like body with a grotesque human-like face.

!!Frederick Charles "Freddy" Krueger
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/freddy_krueger.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:Click here to see him when he was human]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/freddy_krueger_human.jpg[[/labelnote]]]]
->'''Played by:'''\\
'''Main actor:''' Creator/RobertEnglund\\
'''Minor actors:''' Leslie Hoffman, Stacey Alden, John Saxon, Michael Bailey Smith, Danny Hassel, Chason Schirmer, Tobe Sexton, Paula Shaw

-->''"When I was alive, I might have been a little naughty, but after they killed me, I became something much, much worse. The stuff nightmares are made of."''

The primary villain of the series, and the most often recurring character. Born of a nun who was raped by a group of mental asylum patients, he became a child murderer as an adult, claiming many lives until the parents of Springwood got their revenge on him by burning him alive. He makes a deal with three demons to become a powerful ghost with the ability to manipulate dreams. In death, Freddy turns out to be an even worse nightmare than he ever was in life as he continues to hunt the now-teenage children of the lynch mob that killed him.

* AbusiveParents: Freddy was on both the receiving and giving ends of this before his death. His [[ParentalAbandonment birth mom abandoned him]] while his foster dad beat him with a belt, and he subtly threatened to kill his young daughter if she told anyone about him being the Springwood Slasher or murdering her mother in front of her.
* AchillesHeel:
** His powers only work to their full extent in the dream world, and he's noticeably less capable against lucid dreamers that are capable of controlling their own dreamscapes.
** Being forgotten. He ''needs'' to be feared to have power, and if everyone forgets he exists, he's stuck in Hell and can't resurrect.
*** Related to the above, since he needs to be feared to have power, Freddy can be weakened if his target grows a backbone and stands up to him.
** [[HolyBurnsEvil Holy objects]] can harm him, but no one ever thinks to use them against him.
* AppropriatedAppellation: He was called the "Springwood Slasher" during his child-killing days.
* ArchnemesisDad: [[spoiler: To his daughter eventually.]]
* AssholeVictim: The people of Springwood burned him alive for the murder of their children. One could argue that his fate was ''less'' than what he really deserved.
* AlienBlood: In the dream realm, his blood is shown to be green when he slices two of his fingers off. Possibly discolouration from blood decomposition, given that he's dead. Averted in the waking world though.
* AxCrazy: Killing is like breathing to him.
* BadPeopleAbuseAnimals: In a flashback to his childhood in ''Freddy's Dead'', it's revealed he killed a class pet with a hammer.
* BadHumorTruck: ''Freddy’s Nightmares'' reveals that Freddy operated out of an ice cream truck at times. After he’s let out of court, the first thing he does is go and retrieve it.
* BastardBastard: Freddy isn't called "the bastard son of a 100 maniacs" for nothing. He was conceived when dozens of insane inmates in a mental asylum raped his mother Amanda, a nun who was working there. Freddy was a child murderer in real life, and became a spectral nightmare killer after his death.
* BeatThemAtTheirOwnGame: Whenever Freddy's defeated, it's mainly by exceptionally lucid dreamers who can shift the reality and fabric of their dreams just as much as he can. His underestimation of this doesn't help either.
* BerserkButton: Two. Alice Johnson pushes one by mocking him as a DirtyCoward in Dream Child, and Jason Voorhees pushes the other by stealing his kills of the Elm Street children.
* BigBad: Naturally. However, he was possibly subservient to the [[GreaterScopeVillain Dream Demons]] since they are the ones that gave him powers. Though he cuts his ties to them in the comic series ''Comicbook/FreddyVsJasonVsAsh'' and becomes the BigBad once more.
* BladeBelowTheShoulder: His blade-fingered glove started out this way, when he was still alive and his glove was merely a homemade murder weapon. In dreams, it evolves into more of a built-in weapon, which alternately appears on his hand whole when he sheds a disguise, or sends its blades springing out from his (or a puppet's, or a possessed boy's, etc) fingertips.
* BodyHorror: Every visible inch of his skin is covered in burns, with his ears and nose appearing to be slightly ''melted''. At several points throughout the series, he lifts his shirt to reveal that his torso is a mass of screaming faces, which are capable of independent movement and can even contort in ways which are painful to him.
* BritishTeeth: His teeth are in horrible shape, ranging from just being nasty and brown to having multiple gaps in them.
* BroughtDownToBadass: Whenever he's pulled into the real world, he loses his RealityWarper status and NighInvulnerability, but as shown when it happens in ''Film/FreddyVsJason'', he's still MadeOfIron and able to put up one ''hell'' of a fight.
* BroughtDownToNormal: [[spoiler: At the end of ''Comicbook/FreddyVsJasonVsAsh: Nightmare Warriors''. And how so? In the original timeline Freddy was let go after someone forget to sign the warrant, and after a TimeyWimeyBall, an FBI agent signs the warrant, leading to Krueger's arrest and the fact he never became the Nightmare God that he once was.]]
* CardCarryingVillain: As a hardcore sadist and demonic enforcer, he's quite frank about literally having become "the stuff nightmares are made of" and takes pride in his reign of terror throughout Springwood.
* ChildByRape: He was called "the bastard son of 100 maniacs".
* CombatPragmatist: Yes, he will kick you in your balls. Yes, he would [[spoiler:appear as a dead loved one or parent]] to kill you.
* CombatSadomasochist: Freddy often seems to take delight in his own pain. He regularly [[SelfMutilationDemonstration injures himself just to freak his victims out]], laughs his ass off while Alice repeatedly punches him in the face in ''The Dream Master'', and in ''Freddy's Dead'', is shown in a flashback cutting himself and laughing while his foster father whips him with a belt, even asking for more before overpowering said foster father and killing him with a razor blade.
-->'''Freddy''': You wanna know the secret of pain? If you just stop feeling it, you can start using it.
* CostumeEvolution: In the first film, his sweater's sleeves were solid red. ''Freddy's Revenge'' onward gave him striped sleeves to match the torso.
* CoveredInScars: Or in this case, severe third-degree burns.
* CreateYourOwnHero: His gleeful sadism and playing with his victims creates a number of formidable heroes to rise up against him, most notably his antithesis and arch enemy Alice Johnson, the [[GoodCounterpart Dream Master]]. Who never would have become the threat to him she was if not for Freddy trying to use her, greedily desiring more victims' souls after killing Kristen, the last of the Elm Street children.
* CreepyChild: Young Freddy is shown to have been pretty creepy himself in various flashbacks, and he loves to populate his nightmares with pale, creepy children who represent his former victims.
* CrustyCaretaker: Pre-death Freddy worked as a janitor while being a serial killer on the side.
* DeadpanSnarker: One of the first slasher villains to crack jokes.
* DealWithTheDevil: How he got his powers; as revealed in ''Freddy's Dead'', as he was being burned alive, he was approached by three Dream Demons, who search the world for the most evil soul and give them the power to turn dreams into reality. Before his demise, Freddy accepted their offer to "be forever," and the rest is history.
* DemonicPossession: A power demonstrated in ''Freddy's Revenge'' and ''Freddy vs. Jason''.
* DemonOfHumanOrigin: Although it's never stated exactly ''what'' Freddy has become since his death, his DealWithTheDevil was brokered with a trio of actual demons and involved turning himself into an undead monster who could invade people's dreams. But then, OurDemonsAreDifferent.
* DirtyOldMan: Likes to come on to young women, especially the female protagonists. Assuming Freddy vs Jason is set in the same year it was released, that being ''2003'', and Lori being most likely to have been around 18, Freddy is old enough to be her grandfather as he comes onto her.
* TheDreaded: While not being afraid of him isn't enough to stop him entirely, he relies on the masses' fear and belief in him to keep his powers strong. Without this, he's significantly weaker.
* DreamWeaver: This trope is what Freddy Krueger's powers ultimately boil down to, as he can enter dreams at will and alter them to his choosing.
* EmotionEater: Freddy lives off the fear of others. In comics, he's encountered people who idolize or worship him, but he ends up getting them killed. He wants people to ''fear'' him. Those who actually like him are useless.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: He appears to love his daughter, Katherine, as much as Freddy Krueger is capable of loving anything, but that's really not saying a whole lot.
* EvilHasABadSenseOfHumor: Freddy has a sick sense of humor, as his idea of fun is to give someone a particularly painful and creative death. He constantly makes bad jokes about his victims, usually with cheesy one-liners [[PreMortemOneLiner before their deaths]] or [[BondOneLiner afterwards]] if he's feeling especially cheery.
* EvilIsHammy: Freddy likes to "play with his food" like a cat with its prey and he enjoys every second of it. He uses his DreamWeaver powers to put his victims in elaborate (and in the continuing sequels, [[DenserAndWackier borderline-cartoonish]]) scenarios and finish them off with a {{pun}}[=-based=] PreMortemOneLiner.
--> '''Freddy''': Welcome to prime-time, bitch! ''[Shoves Jennifer's head through a TV screen]''
* EvilIsNotAToy: A significant plot point in ''Freddy vs. Jason''. Trying to control Jason Voorhees was ''never'' going to end well.
* EvilIsPetty: Especially in ''The Dream Child'', where he frequently goes out of his way to torment Alice by flaunting his kills in front of her and generally just harassing her when he can. Of course, this is largely because he genuinely hates Alice, but since he could end up hurting the unborn Jacob, who he aims to turn into a FetusTerrible, he can't actually do anything to her.
* EvilMakesYouMonstrous: Freddy Krueger somehow managed to become an undead dream-dwelling human monster just by being really nasty to kids. ''Freddy's Dead'' reveals that he was given his powers upon dying by several nightmare demons.
* EvilMakesYouUgly: {{Justified|Trope}}, because he was burned to death.
* EvilLaugh: Because of Freddy's sadistic pleasure out of all of this. His laugh is generally the last thing your hear. In the first he barely even has any lines, he mainly just laughs, but a very disturbing laugh, the type of laugh that haunts your dreams (ironically).
* EvilSoundsDeep: In the first several films, less so in later sequels.
* EvilFeelsGood: Freddy's loving every moment of this.
* ExtraParentConception: Freddy is called the ''bastard son of a hundred maniacs'', assuming that isn't hyperbole. In ''Nightmare 5'' one of the maniacs is shown to [[IdenticalGrandson look exactly like pre-death Freddy]], hinting that this is in fact his biological father.
* FauxAffablyEvil: Freddy usually addresses his victims in an almost friendly way, and is good at making a sardonic joke every now and then.
* FetusTerrible: In ''The Dream Child'', a nightmarish flashback to his birth depicts him as one.
-->'''Nun''': Sister, this is one of God's creatures. Take solace in that.\\
'''Amanda''': That is ''no'' creature of God!
* {{Flanderization}}: He cracks one dry joke in the first movie that really only makes him creepier. After ''Freddy's Revenge'', he becomes increasingly more comedic until his entire personality is based around making bad puns and putting his victims through absurd and cartoonish nightmare scenarios. At times, you might even forget that he's supposed to be a vile child killer.
* ForTheEvulz: Freddy kills people simply because he ''can'' kill people. The revenge thing is just a bonus. Heck, after he killed off all the children of the parents who killed him originally, he starts looking for any way he can to reach new victims because he just loves killing people ''that'' much.
* FragileSpeedster: When pulled into the real world in ''Freddy vs. Jason'', he's this to Jason's MightyGlacier. He can easily dodge most of Jason's attacks and gets in lots of good hits, but one punch from Jason sends him flying.
* FreudianExcuse: In ''Freddy's Dead'', the filmmakers try to explain away his evilness by giving him a horrifically awful childhood. His mother (who was a nun) gave birth to him only after being raped repeatedly by one hundred patients at a mental asylum she worked at. His adopted father was a sleazy pimp who beat him up daily (and who Freddy later murdered with a razor blade). He was bullied by kids at school, and gave signs of being a textbook sociopath by killing the classroom hamster, for which he never was punished or got help with. Then he shuffled through life as an adult from one low paying job to another, until he decided to express his rage at life by killing the kids of his former bullies. Notably, he even tries and uses the FreudianExcuse to [[spoiler:his daughter Maggie]] in ''Freddy's Dead'' as a means of explaining he was not evil and he was made into this way. [[FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse It doesn't work]].
* FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse: Freddy may have had a crappy childhood, but it doesn't justify the fact that he's a {{sadist}}ic psychopath who gleefully kills people ForTheEvulz. When he attempts to use his FreudianExcuse as an attempt to explain that he wasn't evil and circumstances made him a monster, Maggie doesn't go for it.
* FromNobodyToNightmare: In his case, quite literally.
* GhostlyGoals: Freddy started out avenging his own death, but after he succeeded, he decided to stick around and continue killing (he was, after all, a sadistic serial killer even before he died; even with his revenge complete, he probably saw no real reason to stop killing).
* GodsNeedPrayerBadly: As revealed in ''Freddy vs. Jason'', Freddy's power is entirely dependent on how many people know of and fear him; when the people of Springwood eradicated every trace of his existence, he was left powerless.
* GoneHorriblyRight: In ''Freddy vs. Jason'', he brought [[Franchise/FridayThe13th Jason Voorhees]] BackFromTheDead and set him upon Springwood, knowing that he himself would be blamed for Jason's killings, which would give him enough power to escape Hell and go about haunting Springwood again. The plan works, but Freddy never anticipated that Jason would continue to intrude on his territory and steal his potential victims.
-->'''Freddy''': Everyone forgot! That's why they weren't afraid anymore! That's why I needed Jason to kill for me, to get them to remember! But now he just won't ''stop''!
* AGodAmI: Freddy believes himself to be a god and, to the people whose dreams he warps, it is not an unreasonable belief. It's best summed up by this exchange from the first movie:
-->'''Tina''': Please, God!
-->'''Freddy''': (brandishes claws) ''This'' is God!
* GoodScarsEvilScars: ''[[BodyHorror Look at him!]]''
* GuestFighter: Freddy has made playable crossover appearances in both ''VideoGame/MortalKombat9'' and ''VideoGame/DeadByDaylight''.
* HateSink: Prior to the VillainDecay he underwent in the sequels, Creator/WesCraven intended Fred Krueger to be a dreadful, irredeemable monster of the lowest order, implied to have been a child rapist in addition to a murderer. To further make him stand out from other iconic slasher villains, he revels in bullying his victims in whatever way he can, tormenting them with the images of their dead friends.
* HealingFactor: One of Freddy's many powers in dreams.
* HeManWomanHater: Freddy is ''viciously'' misogynistic. It's rare there's a woman in the films he won't call a bitch at some point.
* {{Hellfire}}: Freddy was able to summon this in the second movie when he was outside of the Dream World.
* HeroKiller: He kills [[FinalGirl Nancy Thompson]] at the end of ''Dream Warriors'', and [[DecoyProtagonist Kristen Parker]] early in ''The Dream Master''. Both were significant threats to Freddy and responsible for defeating him previously.
* HolyBurnsEvil: As suggested by the tune sung about him and shown in 3, holy items are one of the few things that can actually harm him. Unfortunately, few people actually think to use them against him.
* HomeFieldAdvantage: He's virtually unstoppable in the dream world.
* HumanityEnsues: When Freddy is dragged into the real world in ''Freddy's Dead'', he briefly becomes human again. He turns back into his standard form pretty quickly though.
* IconicOutfit: His brown fedora, red and green striped sweater, and knife glove.
* InformedAttribute: He's said to be a child rapist, which (thankfully) is never shown. The only character he ever attempted to rape was Lori, who was likely 18, legally an adult.
* IronicNurseryRhyme: The song associated with him, sungto the tune to "One, Two, Buckle My Shoe."
-->''One, two; Freddy's coming for you\\
Three, four; better lock your door\\
Five, six; grab your crucifix\\
Seven, eight; gonna stay up late\\
Nine, ten; [[NeverSleepAgain never sleep again]]''
* ItAmusedMe: Why he does what he does, it amuses him.
* IdenticalGrandfather: In Alice's dream of how Amanda Krueger was raped, one of the 100 maniacs looks ''exactly'' like pre-death Freddy, and is played by Robert Englund as well. Before Alice is assaulted by the maniacs, a shot briefly lingers on his face, hinting that this is in fact Freddy's biological father. It's also hinted that this is actually Freddy himself in disguise, although why he would take on the guise of his father is unclear.
* IHaveYouNowMyPretty: Many female characters who come across him, such as Tina, Nancy and Lori, become a target of his lust.
* {{Immortality}}: Technically a spirit rather than a physical being, he can't die. Even if ''killed'', it is shown his spirit simply returns to captivity in Hell, or just waits until another victim dreams. As promised by Hell's Dream Demons, his spirit cannot ever truly die.
* {{Invisibility}}: Freddy can turn himself invisible at will. He uses it in ''The Dream Master'' to attack Rick.
* IronicFear: Fire. Although he enjoys his living in Hell and enjoys setting fire to various victims, it's often shown that fire is something he's truly afraid of following his physical death, and is one of few things that can truly harm him, even in dreams.
* {{Jerkass}}: What really separates Freddy from all the other famous SlasherMovie villains is how much of a plain asshole he is. Most other killers/monsters at least have a token flimsy reason for doing what they do (Michael Myers from ''Franchise/{{Halloween}}'' kills because it's [[MadeOfEvil in his nature to do so]], Jason from ''Franchise/FridayThe13th'' does it because his mother tells him to, etc.), but Freddy openly admits that he just does it because it's ''fun''.
* JerkassGods: Despite possessing unlimited power within dreams and more-or-less being a Dream God, he uses his power and pride to mess with his victims and carry out petty murder tasks rather than anything too substantial.
* JokerImmunity: He's died at the end of every film, but something always manages to bring him back in time for the next installment.
* KickTheDog: {{Cruel and Unusual Death}}s aside, Freddy LOVES doing this to all of his victims. For instance, he would give them a false reassuring hug (as in the case of [[spoiler:Nancy, Roland]] or Greta) as he killed them.
* LargeHam: Averted in the first two films and ''New Nightmare'' (though he did make the occasional sick joke here or there), but played straight in the rest of the film series with ''Freddy's Dead'' being the one where he is at his most hammy.
* LaughablyEvil: The sequels turn him into this, making him a LargeHam who constantly makes wisecracks and spouts one-liners as he kills people.
* LeanAndMean: Just because he's skinny as a rail, that doesn't mean he's not dangerous.
* LooksLikeOrlok: Freddy Krueger's appearance is somewhat vampiric, with his bald head, sharp teeth, gaunt frame, and prominent nose. In fact, Robert Englund even once stated that he based some of Freddy's movements on Orlok's.
%%* LovesTheSoundOfScreaming
* ManipulativeBastard: He sets off the event's of ''Film/FreddyVsJason'' by posing as the mother of ''Franchise/FridayThe13th'' villain Jason Voorhees in order to trick Jason into resurrecting from the dead once again and heading for Freddy's hometown of Springwood, Ohio. Freddy banks on Jason's inevitable killing spree being blamed on Freddy by the town residents (if no one remembers Freddy, he can't harm anyone), and he is proven correct.
* ManOnFire: This is how Freddy Krueger died at the hands of the parents of Springwood. In the original film, Nancy sets Freddy on fire when she pulls him out of her dream and lures him to the basement.
* MindOverMatter: Freddy can easily move objects with his mind in the dream world. He even plays an ad-hoc game of pinball with Jason's body in ''Freddy Vs. Jason''.
* MotiveDecay: His motive in the first three films is a RoaringRampageOfRevenge for his death. As the series goes on, he becomes more and more sadistic to the point that he inflicts death and misery purely ForTheEvulz. To be fair, it's established that Freddy was ''always'' a sadistic child murderer, even in life.
* MyDeathIsJustTheBeginning: Is it ever. He was simply a human serial killer when he was alive. After his death he became an undead abomination with near-godlike powers and a bodycount eventually numbering in the hundreds.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: NamesToRunAwayFrom/KNames.
* NeverSleepAgain: It's in the rhyme about him. As in never sleep to never dream of him and die.
* NewPowersAsThePlotDemands: A running joke in the series is that Freddy's powers are pretty much limitless, as far as changing from film to film. It does make sense however. Since Freddy has effectively become the king of nightmares, his powers in the dreamscape would be virtually unlimited. On the rare occasions he manifests in the "real" world, he generally gets his ass kicked (most notably, at the end of the first film).
* NiceHat: Freddy's fedora, of course.
* NighInvulnerability: {{Justified|Trope}}, because he's dead (no body to feel pain with). Even when he's pulled into the real world, he laughs off getting impaled through the stomach and getting the crap beaten out of him by [[Franchise/FridayThe13th Jason Voorhees]].
* NightmareDreams: Freddy's modus operandi.
* ObligatoryJoke: In the later movies, he always makes some kind of (usually groan inducing) ironic joke about someone's situation either [[PreMortemOneLiner just before]] or [[BondOneLiner after]] he murders them.
* ObviouslyEvil: His whole appearance just screams "evil". This is actively embraced by Freddy, since he can look any way he wants to in dreams. He loves being a monster.
* OffOnATechnicality: How he walked away from the child murders he committed before he died; depending on whether you go by the films or ''Series/FreddysNightmares'', it was either because the judge failed to properly sign the search warrant or because the arresting officer neglected to read him his Miranda rights.
* OmnicidalManiac: Freddy became increasingly worse over time. He was always a sadist, but at first he pretended that he wanted revenge for his death at the hands of a lynch mob until he just dropped all pretense and continued killing when this goal was already completed. With nothing to stop him, he eventually [[ChildlessDystopia murders every child in Springwood]] and [[DrivenToMadness drives their distraught parents to utter madness]]. With the entire town destroyed, he just creates another "Elm Street" in a neighbouring city and reveals that he'll never stop killing until everyone's dead.
* OurLichesAreDifferent: Freddy is technically a sort of "astral lich". He would definitely qualify as a powerful sorcerer, and his appearance just screams "undead". Also, killing him tends to involve some rather unusual methods, most often dragging him onto our plane, and, even then, nobody has ever managed to kill him permanently. An easier parallel is that Freddy is [[OurGhostsAreDifferent some sort of ghost]] or [[OurDemonsAreDifferent a demon]] (he is in service to nightmare demons after all).
* PaedoHunt: In the original film and ''Freddy vs. Jason'', it's strongly implied but not stated outright that Freddy is a pedophile in addition to being a child killer. Creator/WesCraven originally wanted to make him one, but in the end decided not to in order not to be accused of [[RippedFromTheHeadlines exploiting then recent news headlines]] about pedophiles at day cares, et al.
* PlayingWithFire: Despite being killed by fire and being deeply afraid of fire, Freddy has been shown to conjure up fire at will.
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Not only does he kill, he's also ''immensely'' sexist toward women, and ''Freddy vs. Jason'' has him call one of the leads, who is an African-American woman, "dark meat."
* PopCulturedBadass: For a demonic serial killer, he's improbably well-versed in pop culture.
* PungeonMaster: This is basically Freddy's trademark.
* PsychoForHire: Freddy is implied to be this to the Dream Demons who gave him his power.
* RealityWarper: He was able to partly manipulate the outside world, like re-animating his bones. However, by ''Freddy's Dead'', he had gotten so powerful that he was able to erase Springwood parents' memories and make other adults into mindless people who go about their daily lives if there were kids there. He reaches his peak in ''Freddy's Revenge'', where, upon possessing Jesse, he's able to alter things in the real world; he goes completely nuts at the pool party, boiling the water in the pool, creating a wall of fire around the yard, making himself temporarily intangible before jumping out from under the floorboards, and blowing up the barbecue and most of the electrical appliances that are there.
* RedEyesTakeWarning: His eyes are red in ''Freddy's Revenge.''
* RedGreenContrast: Creator/WesCraven had read that red and green are the two most difficult colors for the human eye to see when placed right next to each other, so he gave Freddy the iconic red-and-green stripped sweater to make his appearance that much more fundamentally disturbing.
* ResurrectiveImmortality: Freddy Krueger is killed several times by the heroes, but he returns each time. As Freddy himself put it in the fourth film — "[[PunctuatedForEmphasis I. AM. ETERNAL!]]" In the sixth film he says "In dreams. I. Am. FOREVER!" The dream demons who are the source of his powers promised him that he would indefinitely resurrect no matter what anyone does to him.
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: His initial motive throughout the first three films, and the early part of the fourth. See SinsOfOurFathers below for more details.
* RubberMan: Stretching limbs are one of many of Freddy's powers.
* {{Sadist}}: A key part of his character: he's a murderous psychopath and ''loves every minute of it''.
* SelfFulfillingProphecy: His powers are greatly heightened by the fear of his victims. Their fear that he is an unstoppable nightmare monster ''causes him'' to be an unstoppable nightmare monster.
* SelfMadeOrphan: He killed his foster father when he was young. Fate of his foster mother is unknown. His murders also caused his own mom to kill herself, if this was Freddy's plan however, is unknown.
* SelfMutilationDemonstration: One of Freddy's freakier habits is to show off his invulnerability by wounding himself: cutting off fingers, slashing open his side, peeling off his own scalp, etc. In this case, it's as much to squick out his victims as to demonstrate the futility of trying to hurt him.
* SerialKiller: He was one both in life (as the Springwood Slasher) and the afterlife.
* ShapeshifterDefaultForm: He's an accomplished shapeshifter in the dream world, regularly appearing as other people, mechanical devices, and a host of other forms. While he can look however he wants, as a nightmare ghost he prefers to appear as his post-death burnt self, probably to scare his victims. His true form in the real world are his skeletal remains, but it remains to be seen if he even ''has'' a true spectral form (though the novel ''Protege'' implied that the demonic visage that he briefly assumes during the "YOU!" scene in ''Freddy vs. Jason'' is it).
* ShapeshiftingSeducer: Eerily Freddy uses this tactic on Joey in ''Dream Warriors'' by disguising himself as a hot nurse, showing that he's an equal opportunity deviant.
* SinisterSchnoz: He's a murderous monster with a rather pointy nose.
* SinisterScrapingSound: Freddy with his claw on most anything.
* SinsOfOurFathers: His killing sprees throughout the first three films, and the early part of the fourth, is to kill the children of the lynch mob who originally burned him alive. After killing Kristen Parker in ''The Dream Master'', he's only in it ForTheEvulz from that point onwards.
* TheSociopath: For sure. To Freddy, humans are just his playthings.
* StopWorshippingMe: As explored in the tie-in comic ''New Line Cinema's Tales of Horror #1'', Freddy is disgusted by the idea that he has 'fans'. He has no desire to work with others or be worshipped in any way as these people are useless to someone who requires fear or needs to make the kill himself.
* SuperMode: "Super Freddy" from ''The Dream Child'', which he conjures up to mock the comic book fan Mark.+
* ThisIsForEmphasisBitch: Done quite a bit throughout the films:
** "Welcome to Prime Time, bitch!" from ''Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet3DreamWarriors''.
** ''Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet4TheDreamMaster'': "I've been guarding my gate for a long time, bitch!"
** ''Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet5TheDreamChild'': "We'll see, bitch," "Die, bitch!", as well as "Bon appetit, bitch!"
** ''Film/FreddysDeadTheFinalNightmare'': [[PunctuatedForEmphasis "Kung. Fu. This,]] Bitch."
** ''Film/FreddyVsJason'': Twice. "Welcome to my world, bitch!" and "Let me handle this, bitch!"
* TransformationOfThePossessed: In ''Freddy's Revenge'', he possesses Jesse by messily transforming his body into his own shape.
* {{Troll}}: He constantly makes bad jokes about his victims, usually with cheesy one-liners.
* UnskilledButStrong: Several times it's shown that Freddy can't handle a fair fight very well, likely because he's rarely if ever in one and mainly preyed on little children in life. When up against someone who can actually fight him on even footing he normally has to rely on dirty tricks and exploiting their fears in order to win, or relying on his NighInvulnerable status to keep him safe. Rick and Alice both use him as a punching bag with martial arts powers and Taryn was able to get the upperhand on him in a knife fight, with Freddy having to cheat to win all three fights. While he was able to face Jason fairly evenly, it's clear Jason is likewise unused to an even fight either.
* UnPerson: ''Freddy vs. Jason'' states that after it became known that Freddy grows more powerful based on how much he is feared and by how many people know of him, the town of Springwood tried to erase all knowledge of his existence and his murder spree to spare their children. Those who had any knowledge of Freddy were institutionalized and put on Hypnocil. It worked so well that Freddy brought Jason back to stir things up.
* VillainBall: Rather than kill his victims outright, he prefers to draw out their torment for his own amusement, overconfident in their inability to effectively fight back. This has given many of his victims a chance to escape or find the means to defeat him, and [[Film/FreddyVsJason Jason]] [[KillSteal stole one of his kills]] because of this. A notable aversion: because he recognized Nancy as a threat since his defeat in the original movie, in ''Dream Warriors'', he simply stabs her in lieu of his usual elaborate kill sequences.
* VillainDecay: He was truly menacing, serious, and evil in the first film. The sequels, however, increasingly made him a campy, LaughablyEvil LargeHam. This was reflected in his [[MisaimedMarketing marketing]] — he cut an album of cheesy pop songs, guest-rapped on a hip-hop track by The Fat Boys about his antics, was rapped about in a different Will Smith track, and was subject to all kinds of tie-in merchandise including yo-yos. It took years and the return of Creator/WesCraven to address and attempt to reverse this.
* VillainousValour: During ''Film/FreddyVsJason'', Freddy puts up a good fight against the superstrong Jason Voorhees even when he's technically just a weak, disfigured, physical ghost [[BuffySpeak thing]] when not in the Dream World.
* VoiceChangeling: One of Freddy's many powers, as he demonstrates at one point in ''Freddy's Dead''.
* VoluntaryShapeshifter: Via his dream powers. One of the things he enjoys doing most to torment his victims is pretending to be someone close to them so he can [[MindRape scar them emotionally]] before going in for the kill.
* WasOnceAMan: Once a human serial killer, he turned into something resembling a nightmare ghost/demon after his death.
* WrestlerInAllOfUs: During his fight against Jason, he manages to hit a leaping elbow drop. Notably he does this by [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=xNGwpLHDDIA#t=78 jumping on his back while Jason is standing]], rather than while Jason is lying on the ground, making it more like a Muay Thai strike than a wrestling move.
* WouldHurtAChild: Explicitly prefers it; in fact, he was originally killed by the furious parents of Springwood because he was a SerialKiller murdering their children. While he is perfectly capable of killing adults (as seen in the first three films and ''Film/FreddysDeadTheFinalNightmare''), he chooses to take his revenge by killing their teenaged children instead, apparently to rub in how killing him didn't protect their kids from him after all.
* WolverineClaws: Freddy's primary weapon is a glove with blades attached to each finger.
* YourMindMakesItReal: Any damage he inflicts on his victims in the dream world crosses over to the waking world.
* YourSoulIsMine: His victims have their souls absorbed into his body, to remain there permanently. Freddy then siphons off their souls' power to become even more powerful himself. A few films end with them being freed. One notable example had this happen followed by them tearing him apart from the inside out.
* YourWorstNightmare: Boy howdy.
[[/folder]]

!!!'''Introduced in ''Film/{{A Nightmare on Elm Street|1984}}'' (1984)'''
[[folder:Nancy Thompson]]
!!Nancy Thompson
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nancy_a_nightmare_on_elm_street_resized_9079.jpg]]

->'''Played by:''' Creator/HeatherLangenkamp
->'''Appears in:''' Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet1984 | [[Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet3DreamWarriors Dream Warriors]]


-->''"I'm into survival."''

The heroine of the original film, who returns for the third film as well. Daughter of Marge and Donald Thompson (divorced), she's best friends with Tina, Glen (her boyfriend), and Rod.
----

!!Freddy Krueger
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/033_elm_street--300x300_3479.jpg]]

->'''Played by:''' Creator/JackieEarleHaley, Creator/RobertEnglund (''VideoGame/MortalKombat9'')

-->''"Why are you screaming? I haven't even cut you yet."''

This version of Freddy was a gardener at Badham Pre-School, who was loved by all the kids there. He was also a child molester who used his position to have his way with the children. After the parents learned of his crimes, they chased him into an industrial park where they trapped him inside a building and burned him alive. Years later, he returns to kill all those who attended the pre-school, except for Nancy, as he has [[AndIMustScream different plans for her]].

* AdaptationalJerkass: Yeah, like Freddy Krueger couldn't be a ''bigger'' asshole. He's always been evil, but where the original series portrayed Freddy as a SerialKiller preying on children before he died, the remake portrays Freddy as a child molester who sexually abused his victims. It's heinous no matter how you slice it, but remake Freddy may be considered even worse (or at least {{Squick}}ier) because RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil. He might actually be MORE evil than the original Freddy.
* AlienBlood: He is shown bleeding black when he gets his throat cut.
* BaldOfEvil: The fire that claimed his life burned off his hair.
* BigBad: He is the main villain of the film.
* BitchInSheepsClothing: When he was alive, the children adored and looked up to him as the friendly gardener who would play games with them. It was all a ploy to earn their trust.
* ColdBloodedTorture: He knows the brain can still function for seven minutes after the heart stops, and gladly takes advantage on it to play with his victims.
* DarkerAndEdgier: While he is still inclined to occasional one-liners, his attitude is a lot angrier and more bitter compared to his mainstream counterpart. And what he plans to do to Nancy is ''way'' more disturbing.
* DeadpanSnarker
-->'''Nancy''': Fuck you!
-->'''Freddy''': Ooh, sounds like fun. It's a little fast for me. How about we hang, first?
* DreamWeaver: As usual, he can enter his victims' dreams and alter then to his preference.
* DudeShesLikeInAComa: What he was planning on doing to Nancy.
* EvilHasABadSenseOfHumor: He makes a lot of sadistic "jokes" that only he laughs at.
--> '''Freddy''': Why you screaming? I haven't even cut you yet. ''(Chuckles)''
* EvilMakesYouMonstrous: He's hideous, both inside and out.
* EvilRedhead: In life, he had red hair.
* EvilSoundsDeep: Yep, he still has this kind of voice; not shocking given that his actor was [[Film/{{Watchmen}} Rorschach]].
* GhostlyGoals: The movie flirts with the possibility that Freddy is the ghost of a once-innocent man seeking vengeance on those who wrongly accused and killed him, but it turns out that he really was that evil from the start, and his revenge here is completely without justification.
* GuestFighter: This version of Freddy has made playable appearances in both ''VideoGame/MortalKombat9'' and ''VideoGame/DeadByDaylight''.
* OffWithHisHead: [[spoiler: It doesn't work, though.]]
* PaedoHunt: The remake explicitly makes him out to be a child molester, even after a [[RedHerring lot of misdirection saying otherwise]].
* RedRightHand: The burned skin, what else?
* StalkerWithACrush: He comes across like this, wanting Nancy all by himself and killing anyone that gets in his way.
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: {{Subverted|Trope}}. The film raises the possibility that maybe in this timeline, Freddy was actually innocent of his crimes and is [[TragicMonster the soul of a wrongly murdered man seeking vengeance]] but it turns out that he was ultimately a monster in life as well.

[[folder:Kris Fowles]]
!!Christina "Kris" Fowles

->'''Played by:''' Creator/KatieCassidy

----
* AdaptationNameChange: Her surname in the original is Gray rather than Fowles. Furthermore, while in both cases they have the first name Christina, here she is nicknamed "Kris", while in the original she was nicknamed "Tina."
* DecoyProtagonist: Although anyone familiar with the original expected Nancy to take the spotlight sooner or later.
[[/folder]]

* BadassNormal: In the first movie, Nancy manages to hold onto Freddy and drag him into the real world, from then which she leads him through her booby trapped laden house and has him set on fire (Freddy hates fire since he was burned to death). She manages to somehow survive the first movie's {{Cruel Twist|Ending}} GainaxEnding. When she appeared in third movie (''Dream Warriors''), she led some of Freddy's other victims into facing him head on [[spoiler: but she sadly died in that one]].

* NiceGuy: From what we see of him. [[/folder]]

* {{Jerkass}}: He often punishes Jesse and Ron into doing several exercises, such as pushups and laps, until forcing them to hit the shower.

* Jerkass: He often punishes Jesse and Ron into doing several exercises, such as pushups and laps, until forcing them to hit the shower.

* EatingTheEyeCandy: She;s interested when Jesse's rear is accidentally exposed during gym class.

* DepravedHomosexual: He is a sexually predatory gay man working as a gym coach at a high school. He abducts Jesse when he sees him in a gay bar, and it is implied that he was about to rape him [[spoiler:before Freddy intervened and killed Schneider.]]

* GenreSavvy: In her seance appearance, after having survived Freddy once.